No. 11 Cyclones Fall to No. 18 Illinois, 3-0

AMES, Iowa – The No. 11 Iowa State volleyball team dropped its second consecutive match with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-16) setback against No. 18 Illinois Sunday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum. The loss took ISU down to 4-1 on the year while Illinois improved to 3-2.

Turning Point of the MatchAfter a competitive first set saw Illinois come out with a 25-23 decision, the second set looked to be heading the same way with the Cyclones taking an early 7-5 lead. However, the Illini went on a 6-0 run powered by two Liz McMahon kills and a pair of Illinois blocks to get ahead 11-7 and not look back in the second en route to a 25-19 second set victory, and a 2-0 set lead heading to the intermission.

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Cyclone Match Ball Goes to…Mackenzie Bigbee. There were not many bright spots for the Cyclone attack Sunday, but one was the sophomore out of Williamsburg. Bigbee had a match-high 14 kills, she also played all six positions in the third set, allowing her to tie her career-high of five digs.

An honorable mention to Caitlin Nolan. The sophomore had five service aces, including three during a third-set run by the Cyclones. Nolan’s career-best coming into the match was two. She also chipped in five digs.

Cyclone Nation, who was your player of the match? Tweet the player along with the hashtag #CyclONEmatchball to @CycloneVB and we’ll announce the fan’s pick later before tomorrow’s match.

Cyclone Notes*Caitlin Nolan posted a career-high with five service aces. She is the first Cyclone with five aces in a match since Caitlin Mahoney did it against Cincinnati in 2011.*Mackenzie Bigbee’s 14 kills marked the fifth time this season she has reached double-figures and 21st for her career.*Kristen Hahn posted 13 digs, extending her school-record run to 46-straight matches with at least 10 digs. She has 63 digs in the last week dating back to Wednesday’s match at UNI (34) and Friday’s against San Diego (16).*Jenelle Hudson recorded a career-high with four kills.

After each match, one tweet will be chose as the “Fan Tweet of the Match”. Fans are encouraged to tweet @CycloneVB during the match and should check cyclones.com to see if their tweet was chose as “Fan Tweet of the Match”.

On DeckIowa State heads to the Ameritas Player’s Challenge in Lincoln, Neb. for three matches. The Cyclones begin the tournament against Dayton at 4:30 p.m. Friday will feature a 4:30 p.m. match against St. Mary’s (Calif.). The Saturday match will be the featured match of the tournament as the Cyclones take on No. 13 Nebraska at 7 p.m.